How to Get the Maximum Results from Social Media Marketing for Lead Generation

Ah, the power of social media. You can climb to new heights of lead generation and reach target audiences of thousands in a single bound! But social media is a superhero with a dark side. When utilized incorrectly, it might not just fail to yield good results, it might backfire on you entirely. Here is your guide for getting the most out of social media for lead generation.

Delve Into as Many Social Media Outlets as Possible

For awhile, LinkedIn was the primary social media network for business interests, but increasingly B2B marketers are connecting and finding success on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube. While LinkedIn is still a practical tool for making connections, and one of the few platforms on which you can publish an entire article in a single post, don't overlook how YouTube videos, Twitter connections, and photo-based social media can benefit your lead generation efforts.

Learn When to Reach Your Audience on Various Social Media Outlets

You'll find a lot of resources telling you what days of the week and times of day you need to be posting to various social media outlets. Just don't assume all of these statistics apply to your business. If your target audience is health care providers, for instance, they might be on at midnight or 2 a.m. on the weekends instead of at noon on Mondays. Develop your own statistics regarding when to post and where.

Control the Negative Comments

One hesitation about delving into social media is the ability of users to say negative things to you or about your products. However, if managed properly, this can be turned into a positive. Respond to negative comments in a timely manner, and offer restitution or an apology. For example, "We are sorry you had trouble using our Ultimate Banana Peeler! Please visit This Page and let us know how we can improve our quality." This garners goodwill and disarms the "haters" because you're offering a solution to their problems.

Utilize the Power of the Hashtag

Hashtags are no longer exclusive to the Twitter platform. Hashtags are now used on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, and Vine.

Hashtags are a great way to get people talking about your products, events, and announcements. You can also use hashtags to tie into other natural pairings with your products. For example, say your partner is running a special on widgets. Your gidgets work wonderfully with their widgets. Piggyback off their hashtag campaign to drive more traffic to your site and products, like this: "Scoring a new #Widget this weekend? Pair it with this great #Gidget!"

Join in Relevant Conversations (and Even Some Un-Relevant Ones)

What is going on within the industry, the nation, and the world that could relate back to your products or services? Establish yourself as a go-to source of information on new legislation enacted, market trends, and new technologies or innovations. Also, find other news-related topics to springboard from, such as holidays. A great source of news tie-ins is to celebrate the birthdates of important industry leaders or the anniversary of important industry inventions. Maybe it's the 100th anniversary of a particular medical device or technological advancement. Even International Cheeseburger Day and National Bring Your Dog to Work Day can make great copy.

Get the Right Technology for Managing Your Data

When you get involved in social media, the leads build up quickly. You need a way to collect, store, cleanse, analyze and use this data to drive sales. Select a data cleansing and enrichment solution that helps you stay on top of your social media-generated leads.

ReachForce is proud to offer the B2B marketer excellent solutions for managing that marketing data. Visit today for a free trial.